Black Lotus Health Collective’s Hike and Sit group walk through the woods in early spring. (Photo: Maleka Fruean)

Tucked into the top of the hill in the middle of Rittenhousetown, in amongst the trees and native plants, sits a huge house. Walk in the doors, and take your shoes off. 

You’ll see photos of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and George Washington Carver in every room. Yoga mats are nestled in with comfy chairs, and sound bowls are nestled into the corners.

It’s all part of the scene at Black Lotus Health Collective, a cooperative of 35 practitioners and an initiative under Diaspora Within Inc., which organizes and centers on Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) practitioners around healing the BIPOC community.

Dr. Cassandra Ferguson Bolding, an international psychologist, global chaplain, addiction specialist, and practitioner of nature-based therapy, is the founder and CEO of Black Lotus.

One of the main tenets of the collective is bringing nature into the process of healing and therapy for folks dealing with trauma and mental health challenges. 

Ferguson Bolding and two other therapists founded the BiPOC nature-based therapy initiative, which they work with at the collective, including nature-based therapy and forest bathing. 

Ferguson Bolding explains that this means incorporating nature into any therapeutic intervention, whether it’s psychotherapy, Jungian therapy, or another therapeutic approach. It involves collaboration between the therapist, the client, and nature. 

“Nature-based therapy has been one that I’ve found that has exponential benefit for the clinician and the client. Because we’re outdoors, we’re in natural spaces. Nature in and of itself– because of the color, because of the sound or the lack thereof,  has therapeutic benefits in and of itself without us saying a word,” said Ferguson Bolding. 

She says it’s almost like using nature as a co-therapist. An example she gives is how she uses nature’s seasons to work with her clients. She says each season can offer its own way of intersecting with our emotional landscape. 

“I find that winter is such a beautiful season to use for grief work and loss and kind of that understanding of nature’s ability to release things and to in its season, in its time, and has its own intelligence to know when and what to release and with the expectation knowing that it will bloom again. So nature is such a wise teacher, and I find that nature-based therapy has dual benefits for the clinician and for the client,” said Ferguson Bolding. 

Sometimes, clients in therapy sessions will go on walks in the Wissahickon as part of their session, or sit next to the creek and listen to the water. The immersion in nature is an integral part of the therapy itself. 

Another important point she notes is the creation of a space where natural environments are not only accessible but also inviting to marginalized and oppressed individuals. Ferguson Bolding is an avid hiker and outdoors person who wanted to create a sanctuary for BIPOC folks to remind themselves that they belonged in natural spaces.

“This wasn’t a space where they had to have permission or be allowed to be in a natural space. It’s yours, you know, it’s ours. And reminding people of that innate (connection), at the level of our DNA, we remember. Many of us are remembering that we come from natural spaces, remembering our ability to navigate natural spaces,” she said.

Baron Wright is an entrepreneur and an artist. He met Ferguson Bolding at a dance event, and he’s been connected to Black Lotus and its programming since then. He has immersed himself the most in the nature work of Black Lotus by regularly attending the Tuesday and Thursday morning “Hike and Sit” sessions, where folks meet at Black Lotus and hike for just over two miles in the Wissahickon. 

It’s given him a sense of community and a peace that comes from being in a natural setting. Wright says one of the ways walking in nature has helped him is being able to see the big picture. 

“It takes the onus off of you, right, to see us as part of a bigger piece. You get to see how… and I say this in a good way, how minute the issues are. If you look at, even looking at the bigger picture– the world and planet and universe and what we live in… that can relieve some weight around what the mind can create about who you are,” said Wright.

Ferguson Bolding agrees. She sees the benefits of using nature in her therapeutic services, but she also points out that Black Lotus is helping connect folks to the bigger picture, which includes the interdependence between humans and nature. 

“Just the idea and understanding that our breath, the breath that we breathe, the oxygen that we are taking in and what we are breathing out, (that) there’s this relationship that happens between ourselves and the trees. Like, that’s so, so beautiful.  And it gets people invested to care about what’s happening to natural spaces. And that’s such a huge part of the work I do as well,” she said. 

The collective has begun planting fruits, vegetables, and herbs outside the space, and has practitioners who use these herbs to create healing salves and teas. It’s all part of the vision of Black Lotus, highlighting how nature is all around us and that we can always utilize it in our healing. 

Ferguson Bolding also points to the hope and resilience she sees in using nature as part of the healing process. 

“I think that one of the things about things that are growing from the earth and especially in urban spaces, it’s a testament to us as a people of color that, the seemingly insurmountable odds that a plant, or a tree has to navigate to grow in these spaces and the recognition that we as people of color always, no matter how difficult it may be to push through that earth, that barrier, that obstacle…  we always do. We always do. We always do.”

To learn more about Black Lotus Health Collective and their nature-based therapy, Hike and Sit sessions, or other nature-centered programming, you can visit their website or email Blacklotushhc206@gmail.com.